Life, 1897-11-04 · page 7 of 20
Life — November 4, 1897 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "A Commonplace Occurrence" This satirical story illustrates the social anxieties of married men regarding their wives' friendships. The narrative centers on a husband who receives a wedding invitation from his wife's best friend but forgets to mention it to his wife. When he finally remembers the event is happening that morning, he must hastily obtain a wedding gift. The cartoon's humor derives from depicting a "commonplace" domestic crisis—the husband's negligence and scrambling to recover—as if it were dramatic and serious. The three illustrations show his guilty anxiety, his scheming, and his wife's reaction. The piece satirizes both male forgetfulness in domestic matters and the social importance wives place on such obligations, suggesting this was a relatable scenario for Life magazine's readers around the early 20th century.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A Commonplace Occurrence. H® walked unconcernedly down the street from his office, whistling softly to himself. He was in a happy, joyous mood— a mood that comes only at occasional intervals, when the mind finds itself relieved briefly from the pressure of life, Suddenly, by one of those swift flashes of recollection that come to us during these moments of greatest passivity, he recollected that the wedding invitation which had come two weeks before, addressed to his office from his wife’s dearest friend, still lay in another pocket at home. He had neglected to give it to her. Face to face with a crisis like this, the presence of mind in the man as- serted itself. Suppressing, with iron resolution, the quick shudder that passed over him, he gathered all his forces to recall the date of the cere- mony. It came to him at last. He re- *LIFE: membered that the event was to take place in two days. What, then, was to be done? There are moments, before even the bravest soldier goes to battle, when he experiences a sense of cring- ing weakness, of cowardly insuffi- ciency, an almost uncontrollable im- pulse to turn and fly. This man passed through that period, Then there succeeded an intense feeling of bravado, an absolute reck- lessness of imminent danger. He ‘It came to him at last.” would face her with it. He would throw the envelope on the table with a word of explanation, and laugh cynically when the storm burst. He would dismiss it all as child's play— not worth talking about. Then he remembered that when- ever he had tried this before it had invariably failed. And he stopped short. In experienced husbands there is developed a species of low cunning 371 which is usually resorted to when other means fail. It was at this instant, then, that a crafty smile illuminated his features. By quick action, he reasoned to himself, there was yet time to send off the present. He felt for his card- case. Yes, his card was there. But hers? Ah! He would run aroundto her stationer's for one. And then to the silversmith’s. The card was easily obtained. Reaching the silversmith’s, he se- lected a forty-dollar salad bowl. This is what every well-regulated husband can be relied upon to select as the wedding gift of his wife's best friend. “Send it with these cards,” he said to the clerk, ‘‘to this address, and prepay the express And lose no time.” Then he went home. That evening he remarked to his fe: ‘My dear, Gertrude’s wedding invitation did not come until this morning, and the wedding takes “In your pocket.”